New Worthing Secondary School to Open in 2015

Nov 7, 2014

Bohunt Education Trust (BET) will run the new secondary school to be situated in Broadwater, Worthing next to Northbrook College. Construction of the school will start at the beginning of November 2014. The school will open in September 2015 .The new 900-pupil academy is being provided because of a need for more school places in the town and as part of a project which will see a change in the age at which children transfer to secondary schools.

South of England based BET currently runs Bohunt School in Hampshire, which is rated Outstanding in every category by Ofsted and is the Times Educational Supplement School of the Year. Bohunt received its best ever GCSE results this year, with over 87% of students achieving 5 or more A*-C grades including Maths and English. BET’s leadership team will now be able to bring this expertise and experience to the Worthing school, as well as proven pioneering teaching methods including immersion language, where pupils learn a third of the curriculum in a foreign language and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) education.

Neil Strowger, Chief Executive of Bohunt Education Trust, said:”The BET team is hugely excited to be leading the new school in Worthing. As well as delivering academic excellence, it is our vision to create at the new school – as we have at Bohunt – an environment where young people thrive, developing skills through innovative teaching and extracurricular activities which will prepare them for working in the 21st Century. Since the proposals for the new school were announced, BET has been keen to take a leading role and we are hugely excited at the prospect of working with the local community to create and run an outstanding school, which will serve young people in the area for years to come. We have been working closely with the DfE and West Sussex Council over the summer to put in place a schooling model which will see us welcoming our first students next year.”

West Sussex County Council has secured an additional £2.1 million from the Department for Education (DfE) towards building the new academy in Worthing. The money is on top of an overall investment in the region of £30m in schools in the town and brings the total budget for the new academy alone to £16.7m.

County Council Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Jeremy Hunt, said: “This is the first project of its kind nationally where the DfE has recognised the need to give additional funding to any local authority for the Targeted Basic Need allocation. We are pleased that the DfE has been willing to look at the very real need for extra funding and have acknowledged that our contractor’s design and proposals represent good value for money.”

Neil Strowger, Chief Executive of Bohunt Education Trust, said: “We have been working hard over the last few weeks to secure additional funding. It will be essential for the delivery of innovative and exceptional education to even more young people in Worthing. The grant will be directly invested in the school site, helping us to develop modern science laboratories with the very best equipment, and a state-of-the-art dance studio. This will ensure students have the best possible facilities so they can flourish. We are very much looking forward to welcoming our first intake in September next year.”

School Reform Minister Nick Gibb said:”It is excellent news for children and parents in Worthing that this new school will be run by such an outstanding trust. Bohunt School has for many years been providing a first-class education to children in Hampshire – and now that excellence will come to West Sussex to the benefit of even more children.”

Regional Schools Commissioner for South London and the South East, Dominic Herrington, added:”BET is one of the most promising sponsors in the South East. I am looking forward to working with them to help spread their expertise and dynamism across the region.”